Arnold Östman
Arnold Östman | |
---|---|
Born | Malmö, Sweden | 24 December 1939
Occupation | Conductor |
Years active | 1971–present |
Arnold Östman (born December 24, 1939) is a Swedish conductor and music director.
Early life[]
Born in Malmö, Sweden, Östman studied art history and musicology at Lund, Paris and Stockholm.[1] As a musician, he concentrated on the piano and the harpsichord, being largely self-taught.[2] During his years as a researcher, he focused on the subject of early opera, bringing to light a number of theretofore unknown or little-known baroque operas.[3]
Östman was a teacher at the Operahögskolan i Stockholm (then called the Statens musikdramatiska skola) in 1969. He was theatre and museum director at the Drottningholms Teatermuseum (later known as Sveriges Teatermuseum) in Stockholm starting in 1979.[4]
Conducting career[]
Östman was artistic director and conductor of the Vadstena-Akademien from 1971until 1981, while also serving as conductor and artistic director of the NorrlandsOperan in Umeå from 1974 until 1978.[4]
He was made artistic director of the Drottningholm Palace Theatre in 1980 and remained in that role until 1992.[2] He gained an international reputation as a champion of the period performance movement in classical music,[5][6][7] a movement that insists on the performance of repertoire from c. 1600 to 1820 (i.e., baroque, classical, and early romantic) using instruments (or modern replicas), techniques, and stylistic sensibilities from the appropriate period.[8] In particular, Drottningholm's productions of Mozart operas with period instruments caused a considerable stir in the early days of the historical-performance movement.[9][10][11] To Östman, use of historically appropriate instruments is vital to developing an understanding of the Mozartian style:
It's so important to use classical instruments. We make mistakes with them, but we keep trying because it is really important complementary information, which has a scientific value. Yet we don't use it as Scientists, we use it for artistic freedom. The more information you have, the more freedom you have.[12]
Outside Sweden, Östman has conducted a wide range of repertoire at the opera houses of Covent Garden, Vienna, Parma, Trieste, Cologne, Bonn, Toulouse, Nice, Wexford, Madrid, Washington, Lausanne, Paris (Garnier and Bastille) and at the Schwetzingen and Vienna Festivals, among others.[13]
As a symphonic conductor, Östman has worked with many major European orchestras, including the German radio orchestras in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Baden-Baden; the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne; the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra; the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; the Orchestre National de France; the Academy of Ancient Music; the Geneva Chamber Orchestra; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmoniker Hamburg.[13]
Operatic recordings (audio)[]
Composer | Work | Soloists | Chorus | Orchestra | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mozart | Così fan tutte | Rachel Yakar (Fiordiligi) Alicia Nafé (Dorabella) Gösta Winbergh (Ferrando) Tom Krause (Guglielmo) Georgine Resick (Despina) Carlos Feller (Don Alfonso) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Chorus | Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra (on authentic instruments) | 1985 | L'Oiseau-Lyre, 3 discs |
Mozart | Le nozze di Figaro | Arleen Auger (Countess) Håkan Hagegård (Count) Petteri Salomaa (Figaro) Barbara Bonney (Susanna) Della Jones (Cherubino) Alicia Nafé (Cherubino) Carlos Feller (Bartolo) Della Jones (Marcellina) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Chorus | Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra (on authentic instruments) | 1988 | L'Oiseau-Lyre, 3 discs, 186 minutes |
Mozart | Don Giovanni | Håkan Hagegård (Don Giovanni) Arleen Auger (Donna Anna) Barbara Bonney (Zerlina) Della Jones (Donna Elvira) (Leporello) Bryn Terfel (Masetto) Kristinn Sigmundsson (Commendatore) Nico van der Meel (Don Ottavio) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Chorus | Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra (on authentic instruments) | 1990 | L'Oiseau-Lyre, 3 discs, 171 minutes |
Mozart | Die Zauberflöte | Barbara Bonney (Pamina) Kurt Streit (Tamino) (Papageno) Sumi Jo (Queen of the Night) Kristinn Sigmundsson (Sarastro) Håkan Hagegård (Speaker) Martin Petzold (Monostatos) Lillian Watson (Papagena) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Chorus | Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra (on authentic instruments) | 1990 | L'Oiseau-Lyre, 2 discs |
Gluck | Orfeo ed Euridice | (Orfeo) (Euridice) Kerstin Avemo (Amore) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Chorus | Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra (on authentic instruments) | 1998 | Naxos, 1 disc, 67 minutes. Vienna (1762) version. |
Gluck | Alceste | (Alcestis) Justin Lavender (Admetus) (Evander) (Ismene) (Herald; Voice of Apollo) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Chorus | Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra (on authentic instruments) | 1999 | Naxos, 3 discs, 147 minutes |
Operatic recordings (video)[]
Composer | Work | Soloists | Director | Orchestra | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mozart | Le nozze di Figaro | (Count) (Countess) (Susanna) Mikael Samuelson (Figaro) (Cherubino) Erik Saedén (Dottor Bartolo) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1981 | Studio: Image Entertainment. 179 minutes |
Mozart | Così fan tutte | (Fiordiligi) (Dorabella) (Ferrando) (Guglielmo) (Despina) (Don Alfonso) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Willy Decker (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1984 | Arthaus Musik, 160 minutes. |
Handel | Agrippina | (Claudio) Barbara Daniels (Agrippina) (Nerone) (Poppea) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Michael Hampe (stage) |
London Baroque Players | 1985 | Euroarts, 150 minutes |
Mozart | La clemenza di Tito | (Tito) (Sesto) (Vitellia ) (Servilla) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Göran Järvefelt (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1987 | Arthaus Musik, 127 minutes |
Mozart | Don Giovanni | Håkan Hagegård (Don Giovanni) (Donna Anna) (Zerlina) Birgit Nordin (Donna Elvira) Erik Saedén (Leporello) (Masetto) (Commendatore) Gösta Winbergh (Don Ottavio) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Göran Järvefelt (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1987 | Virgin Video. 186 minutes |
Mozart | La finta giardiniera | (Don Anchise) (Sandrina) Richard Croft (Comte Belfiore) (Arminda) (Ramiro) (Serpetta) Petteri Salomaa (Nardo) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Göran Järvefelt (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1988 | Kultur Video. 149 minutes |
Mozart | Die Zauberflöte | (Pamina) (Tamino) Mikael Samuelson (Papageno) (Queen of the Night) László Polgár (Zarastro) Petteri Salomaa (Speaker) (Monostatos) Birgitta Larsson (Papagena) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Göran Järvefelt (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1989 | Image Entertainment, 160 minutes |
Mozart | Die Entführung aus dem Serail | (Konstanze) (Blonde) Richard Croft (Belmonte) (Pedrillo) (Osmin) (Selima Pasha) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Harald Clemen (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1989 | Kultur Video, 133 minutes |
Mozart | Idomeneo | (Idomeneo) (Idamante) (Ilia) (Elettra) (Arbace) |
Thomas Olofsson (video) Michael Hampe (stage) |
Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra | 1991 | Arthaus Musik, 142 minutes |
Antonio Salieri | Falstaff | John Del Carlo (John Falstaff) (Mrs. Ford) Richard Croft (Mr. Ford) Delores Ziegler (Mrs. Slender) Jake Gardner (Mr. Slender) |
Agnes Meth (video) Michael Hampe (stage) |
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra | 1995 | Arthaus Musik, 144 minutes |
Awards and recognition[]
Arnold Östman was awarded the newspaper Expressen's Spelmannen in 1974. He was awarded an honorary doctorate at Umeå University in 1979[14] and he is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.[15] He was awarded the Litteris et Artibus 1990 and was elected to the Kungl. Musikaliska akademien May 14, 1992.[4] In 2010 he was awarded the Hans Majestät Konungens medalj, "for significant contributions to Swedish music".[16]
References[]
- ^ Salander Mortensen, Jill (1997). Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. Stockholm: Norstedt. ISBN 91-1-960852-7.
- ^ a b Åstrand, Hans (1979). Sohlmans musiklexikon. 5, Particell-Øyen. Stockholm: Sohlman. ISBN 91-7198-025-3.
- ^ Ericson, Uno (1883). Myggans nöjeslexikon: ett uppslagsverk om underhållning. 14, Talm-Över. Höganäs: Bra böcker. ISBN 91-7752-272-9.
- ^ a b c Nyström, Pia (1996). Kungl. Musikaliska akademien: matrikel 1771–1995. Stockholm: Musikaliska akad. ISBN 91-85428-99-X.
- ^ Rockwell, John (July 11, 1989). "Review/Opera; In Europe, 2 by Mozart On Early Instruments". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ Sadie, Stanley (September 1985). "Review – Così fan tutte (audio recording)". Gramophone: 97–98. Retrieved 5 July 2012.[dead link]
- ^ Balthazar, Scott L. (2013). Historical Dictionary of Opera. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0810867680.
- ^ Bernstein, Tamara. "Period instrument movement". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Historica-Dominion. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ Gruber, Paul (1993). The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera. New York: W. W. Norton. pp. 296–297, 313, 314, 324–325. ISBN 0-393-03444-5.
- ^ Davis, Dan. "Gluck: Orfeo/Drottningholm". Classics Today. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ Finch, Hilary (December 1990). "Review – Don Giovanni". Gramophone: 138. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ Jamie, James. "Taking a New Look: The conductor Arnold Ostman talks to James Jamie". Gramophone. Retrieved 3 July 2012.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Arnold Östman". Haydn Rawstron Limited. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ "Hedersdoktorer vid Umeå universitet". Umeå universitet. Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ Sleeman, Elizabeth (2003). The International Who's Who 2004. London: Europa Publications. p. 1265. ISBN 1-85743-217-7.
- ^ "Medaljförläningar 6 juni 2010". Sveriges Kungahus. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- 1939 births
- Swedish conductors (music)
- Male conductors (music)
- People from Malmö
- Living people
- Music directors (opera)
- Swedish harpsichordists
- 21st-century conductors (music)
- 21st-century Swedish male musicians